The Imagineering Story: See What’s Not There
This is the first of a five part series based on lessons learned from The Imagineering Story: The Official Biography of Walt Disney Imagineering by Leslie Iwerks. We’re covering five things that those of us in the church world can take away from gifted artists, thinkers, creators, and engineers. See the Top Ten Quotes post here.
One of my favorite coffee mugs – and I define “favorite” as one that has a place of honor in my collection and so I hardly ever drink from it – was a gift from my friend Bob Adams. Bob is a fellow Disney nerd. Scratch that – Bob is the premier Disney nerd, and you should read his post on The Imagineering Story and all of his posts on Imagineering and Disney.
But anyway – one of my favorite coffee mugs is a photo of Walt Disney walking the site of what had been called The Florida Project: a top-secret acquisition of central Florida properties which would become Walt Disney World. Behind Walt is a superimposed image of Cinderella’s Castle where it would eventually stand, and on the back side of the mug, the simple word VISION.
The message couldn’t be clearer: Walt Disney had the ability to see what few others could. He saw what wasn’t there. He envisioned a future and encouraged his team to build towards it.
In The Imagineering Story, we’re treated to examples of Walt’s vision that saw castles rise out of the orange groves of California and the swamplands of Florida:
In the often-told story of the original concept drawing of Disneyland, Walt brought in Herb Ryman – one of his artists for Dumbo and Fantasia – to help him create a visual that his brother Roy would use…
…to raise millions from investors, Walt said, who “don’t understand anything except money. And we’ve got to show them what we’re going to do.” … Ryman’s interest was piqued. “Well, gee,” he said, “I’d like to see it, too.” To which Walt quickly responded, “You’re going to do it.” … Ryman went to work, with Walt at his side, hunched over a drawing table in the studio, around the clock, to produce the first complete depiction of what would become Disneyland. The drawing had a castle, a Fantasy Land, a World of Tomorrow, and, of course, a Main Street leading to the central hub. It had a train and a riverboat, docked at Frontier Country. And it had dozens of teeny-tiny patrons, wandering through the park’s streets and pathways or stopping to watch the carousel. By Monday morning, this penciled masterpiece, measuring forty-three by seventy inches, was ready for Roy Disney to roll up and take to New York. Marty Sklar, who worked at Disneyland on Opening Day and later became president, vice chairman and principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering…said, “there’s so much in it because it was all in Walt’s head. Things that were not done in Disneyland for five or six years later.”
Walt could coax a map out of Herb Ryman’s brain because he could coax talents out of Herb Ryman – and the dozens of other early artists that he brought on board.
From the start, Imagineers were people in touch with Walt’s psyche, and Walt was in touch with their abilities—sometimes talents they didn’t even know they had. Unbeknownst to them at the time, an animator would become the sculptor who created characters that would live on for generations. A background artist would become a master at ride layouts. A man known for his ability to draw would write lyrics that park visitors would be humming their whole lives. A woman who painted props and sets would help build castles and create lifelike singing birds from piles of feathers.
This series is not intended to be a pound-for-pound application of Disney principles for the church. I think we’d all agree that as a “family-friendly” company, they have veered far off course from Walt’s original vision. Further, Disney is all about entertainment and the bottom line, while the church should be about eternity and helping people to cross the line of faith. No matter what a Disney princess tells you, you should never follow your heart. That sucker is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). You should never believe in yourself or put your faith in pixie dust or pin your hopes on a fairy godmother. That’s all garbage, and you need to let it go. (#didyouseewhatididthere)
That said, there’s still plenty we can learn and apply from the stories told in The Imagineering Story.
Takeaways for the church world:
Leaders are called to lead. And sometimes leadership means charting a path into an unknown (or at least unclear) future. If we plan to apply Walt’s practices to our own habits, here are a few:
- We have to lead through the fog when the way isn’t even clear in our own minds.
- We have to see it before we see it, or we’ll never actually be able to see it.
- We have to call gifts out of people they may not know they have.
- We have to help our people navigate what’s next, with clear communication and lots of conversations.
But before any of that happens, we have to first recognize that it doesn’t happen through us. It happens via the Spirit inside of us, and by God’s calling over us. When I lead out of the strength of my own leadership, when I rely on my own vision, that’s a recipe for disaster. So there are three final takeaways that we don’t learn from Walt, but we dare not ignore:
- We have to develop a sense of desperation that God is the author of the work.
- We have to look to Jesus as the sure and steadfast anchor of our souls.
- We have to realize that we are not, but He is.
See all the posts in this series:
- Top Ten Quotes: The Imagineering Story
- The Imagineering Story: See What’s Not There
- The Imagineering Story: See it from Their Side
- The Imagineering Story: See Their Wants (But Know Their Needs)
- The Imagineering Story: Help Them to See Strategically
- The Imagineering Story: See What They May Not See
